The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

Description

There are few people who haven’t yet heard of Nils Holgersson, the small boy who flew all over Sweden on the back of a goose. Selma Lagerlof published two novels in 1906 and 1907 to combine them into a single book named The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. When the National Teachers Association commissions work for a geography reader, Lagerlof decides to intertwine fiction with reality and give children an exciting way to learn about their country.

The novels follow the story of Nils Holgersson, a young boy who is not very good natured. The things he enjoys in life the most is eating and sleeping. When he is not doing any of those, he enjoys hurting the animals on his parent’s farm. One day, he manages to capture a tomte with a net. A tomte is a mythical creature, a kind of little man with a beard and a pointy hat who comes visiting at the winter solstice. Nils gets him home and tries to help him learn the Bible, refusing to let the small creature go even after being promised a huge gold coin. Eventually, the actions of Nils anger the tomte, and so he transforms the boy into a tomte as well, greatly reducing his size and giving him the ability to talk to animals.

Now smaller than any human being, Nils is starting to get into trouble as the animals at the farm gather around him, planning on revenge for all the pain they had been through. Fortunately, at that moment wild geese flying over the farm attract a domestic goose and the boy hangs on its neck, being taken off into the sky. What follows is an exciting adventure over the historical provinces of Sweden and the development of Nils as a man and a gentler person, all these in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
[amz_corss_sell asin=”1775425827″]